Of Basketball Boys and Relationship Problems
by Merely Corroborative Detail
Summary: In the Wildcats' locker room, Troy asks Chad for some advice on how to deal with his latest annoyance about Gabriella. Chad, however, has his own secret love problems. SLASH! Prithee, do R&R.


It was a bright and sunny afternoon; a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon, to be precise. Basketball practice was over, and the most of the team, including the coach, was heading home. The only ones left in the damp, tiled locker room, and in point of fact, in the whole school, were Chad Danforth and Troy Bolton; coach Bolton had left his son the keys.

Chad was sitting on the bench, wearing only a towel around his waist. The water from the showers had noticeably diminished the volume of his hair, and drops of it were still trickling down his muscular if tired body as he waited for Troy to get out of the shower. He'd seen him play; it was obvious that there was something on the white boy's mind.

"Hey, Troy!"

"Hey…"

Effectively, when he did come out, Troy's face was longer than ever, though Chad, even if concerned for his friend's well being, couldn't withhold a shudder of excitement at seeing the blond youth's perfectly toned body wrapped in only a towel.

Yet he hid it; he hid it, the same way he'd been hiding it for years now, and played best friend.

"What's on your mind, man?" he enquired, as Troy went towards his locker.

"Nothing…" said Troy, very unconvincingly, as he opened said locker.

"That's not true," said Chad.

Then, Troy paused, and opened his mouth once or twice to answer something along the lines of "seriously, it's nothing"; but in the end he decided that he might as well be honest with his best friend.

"I'm having problems with Gabriella," he finally confessed, slamming the locker's door shut, and sitting down next to Chad. Their arms accidentally touched, and it was like a spark of electricity went through Chad's body; for those readers that aren't paying attention, Troy was still in the towel.

"She's not letting you do her?" inquired the black boy.

"No, you pervert!" said Troy.

Chad always liked to talk about sex with Troy, so he had asked his even though he knew the answer would be no. Troy was the chastest male in school, and had in fact not even touched himself until sixteen; and that on Chad's recommendation.

But that's probably more than you wanted to know.

"It's just that," Troy continued hesitantly "She's been acting, well… kind of distant lately."

"Huh?"

"You know…" said Troy, who was obviously having some difficulty expressing his feelings "It's not that she doesn't like me, or that she doesn't do stuff with me, or even that she says anything bad, it's just… I… I have this feeling that I'm not that important to her. I mean, by way she acts. I want love, passion, hugging and kissing and even talking 24/7, but she acts like she has better things to do!"

"Oh…"

"I mean," Troy went on "Would it kill her for once when she's studying and I call to tell her I love her not to answer that it's very nice but that she's busy?" Dang it, girl, a bit of romanticism never hurt anyone! Why do they always have to be so rational about everything?"

"I know exactly how you feel…" said Chad, somewhat sadly.

At this Troy gave him a quizzical look.

"You've got the same problem with Taylor?"

"Taylor," said Chad, with a chuckle, half to himself "I wish it was Taylor!"

"Then who?" said Troy "Don't tell me you're cheating on her; that's wrong!"

"It's… not important," Chad answered the morality speech. "But it's about your thing. I just want you to know, I know what it's like not to be loved back.

"You… you do?" said Troy.

Chad looked him in the eyes, ablaze with passion.

"I know what it's like not to be loved back," he said "I know what it's like to be ignored. I know what it's like to be ready to give your life for someone who doesn't even know it. I know what it's like to spend years right next to someone and not even be able to tell them 'I love you'… "

Here, without even noticing, Chad's hand gently touched Troy's arm.

"Trust me, Troy," he said "I know."

It was obvious were this was going. Troy, for a moment, was at a loss for words; not angry, not offended, just at a loss. Then, suddenly, he pulled himself away.

"I… I think this conversation is getting beside the point.."

Chad was brought back to Earth as well.

"Yeah," he said, looking away from Troy.

"Totally…"

"No possible, probable shadow of a doubt…"

Now, this was very distressing. Chad knew that Troy wasn't the smartest guy in school –and that even though he wasn't very bright himself-, but his little speech had left very little to the imagination, and no amount of stupidity could cancel that: for all practical purposes, he'd just confessed his love to Troy Bolton! He was so embarrassed, he just wanted the ground to open up and swallow him right there…

Troy Bolton was visibly trying to be as nice as he could about this -or at least so Chad interpreted his kindness- but… what had he done?!

Of course, he had no clue how Troy actually felt.

"I think it's time we got dressed…" he said.

"Yeah," said Chad.

"Totally…"

"No possible, probable shadow of a doubt!"

And Troy got up, and so did Chad. And they went towards their respective lockers not even looking at each other. Yet just as Chad was grasping the full extent of his present despair, he felt the Troy's arm on his back.

And before he knew it, the white boy turned him around, pinned him against the locker, and passionately kissed him.

"Don't you ever," said Troy "Ever, ever say I don't love back!"

And he kissed him again. Then, they started a full-fledged make-out session, and their towels fell to the ground, and, well… the reader can make imagine the rest, and thus the rating for the story won't have to go up.

***

Troy and Chad were in front of Troy's house, fully dressed, obviously. After their little, shall we say, interaction, they'd walked home together. The sun was still shining, and fresh, spacious suburbia looked very good and bright indeed as they parted, though not nearly as bright as the huge smiles on both their faces.

"Hey," said Chad, as Troy went to his house "If you ever have problems with Gabby again… Call me!"

"Sure thing!" said Troy, with a wink.

And he most certainly did.


End file.
